Bulldogs fall to Longhorns in conference baseball clash
Published 12:59 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Former Hampton Coach Bud Hazelwood throws out a ceremonial first pitch before the Bulldogs' game against the Johnson County Longhorns.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Bulldog center fielder Gabriel Lyons (24) makes the catch for the first out in the top of the first inning, with Johnson County’s Kaden Blevins at bat.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Johnson County’s Nate King (9) slides safely into second base as the ball gets away from Bulldog shortstop Jayden Kuhn (20) in the top of the first inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Bulldog catcher Chance Point (12) signals the defense in the top of the first inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Johnson County Longhorns.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Bulldog left fielder David Porter (17) tracks down a fly ball near the foul line for the second out in the top of the first inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Hampton Head Coach Nicholas Perkins (right) goes to the mound to make a pitching change in the top of the second inning as starting pitcher Noah Nichols (second left) struggled in his outing against the Johnson County Longhorns.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Hampton’s Chance Point (12) delivers a strike to the first batter he faced in the top of the second inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Bulldog shortstop Noah Nichols (47) tags Johnson County’s Grayson Espinoza (30) out at second for the final out in the top of the second inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Bulldogs' Elisha Henson (51) hits a liner to right field to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Hampton’s Geno Carico (2) hits an RBI single to right field, scoring the Bulldogs' first run of the night in the bottom of the second inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Bulldogs' Parker Williams (8) slides into second base safely under Kaden Blevins' tag after the Johnson County shortstop's throw to first goes wild in the bottom of the second inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Bulldog second baseman Chase Davenport (33) throws to first base, from deep in the hole, to get Johnson County’s Ezra Howard (44) for the first out in the top of the third inning.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Johnson County’s Colton Grindstaff (32) is caught stealing as Bulldogs shortstop Noah Nichols (47) applies the tag for the final out in the top of the third inning.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
One night after a scintillating 8-7 victory at Johnson County the two teams met again at Scotty Bunton Field. The result was not the same as Johnson County scored a 22-3 victory.
Hampton (2-4, overall, 1-1 conference) saw their pitching and defense fall apart late, giving up 13 seventh inning runs. The pitching surrendered 13 walks and the defense made seven fielding errors and the lone bright spot was a four and one third inning relief stint from senior Chance Point.
“That was some of the best quality that Chance has pitched,” Bulldogs head coach Nicholas Perkins said. “We hope that’s a sign of things to come from our senior right hander.”
The Longhorns jumped on ‘Dogs starter Noah Nichols who struggled finding the strike zone as he surrendered two first inning runs on a pair of walks and a two RBI double from Carson Jennings. In the second frame Nichols walked two more batters forcing Perkins to make a change.
Point came in cold and was greeted with a two run single from Kaden Blevins that made it a 4-0 contest. A wild pitch and an infield error brought home two more Longhorn runners to make it a 6-0 game.
“We are both young and inexperienced as a team and we had a huge comeback win on Monday night,” Perkins said. “We have had inconsistency but that’s baseball. We’ll regroup and take on Tri-Cities Christian on Thursday. We just have to keep stacking days and that just means trying to get better each and every day.”
The Bulldogs rallied in the bottom of the frame for three runs as Elisha Henson led off with a single to rightfield and with two outs senior Geno Carrico singled to centerfield putting runners on the corners.
Carrico stole second and Henson scored on a single by Parker Williams. Carrico went to third on the hit and Williams moved into scoring position on an infield error. Both runners scored on a hit from Gabriel Lyons to make it a 6-3 contest.
Unfortunately that was the high point for Hampton as Johnson County scored a run in the fifth on a bases loaded walk. In the sixth Nate King led off with a single and stole second base. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield fly ball.
A walk and a pair of singles made it a 9-3 contest. The Bulldogs never laid down, threatening in the third and fifth innings with multiple men on base but could not get the big hit to drive in runs.
Johnson County pitcher Grayson Holt pitched six innings giving up three runs on eight hits striking out seven and walking four before giving way to King who pitched a scoreless seventh. In the top of that inning the Longhorns had eight hits, five walks and the ‘Dogs committed four fielding and throwing errors.
Scotty Bunton Field
Johnson County 22-3
Johnson Co 240 012 (13) – 22 13
Hampton 030 000 0 – 3 8
W – Holt L – Nichols
